I really do love reading the British trade mag. Classical Music over coffee of a morning once a month or so if only to digest, in that inimitable style only the British can muster, what’s happening in Classical Music and Opera in the UK.
Interesting to note that the Mark Allen Group has bought out this title along with Rhinegold Publishing in recent days. This is potentially not a good thing in terms of editorial independence, but that’s a subject for a different day.
I’m also somewhat fascinated by the ‘infotorials’ disguised under the banner of ‘guest editing’ in the August edition about music streaming and its growing impact on the classical music sector. Provided by industry insiders (I have no wish to mention them by name) I can’t quite throw off the feeling I am being conned.
That said, if you want to track down this edition of the magazine, do take careful note of what Becky Lees (Head of LSO Live) and Alexander Van Ingen (CE of The Academy of Ancient Music) have to say; being both insightful, grounded, if not direct and unapologetic. The rest, however, suffers from a lack of balanced reporting. There are some vested interests in play. Continue Reading →
I was recently at a conducting conference in Oxford, UK, designed by academics for academics. Beyond giving a paper concerning technical issues with live-streaming concerts and the inherent challenges of new strategies in audience engagement, it was, for the most part, an uninteresting conference populated by college and conservatory conductors (both instrumental and choral educators) – some of whom I must say have very peculiar ideas as to what constitutes conducting as a communicative musical artform.
